changed out the bulbs in the QX4 gauge cluster (pics)

[GoPathyGo]

Thank you for your write-up! It is very useful to me, I intend to do this mod sometime in May on my gauge cluster as well as HVAC unit on the dashboard (I have the manual one). I've read about the guy whos cluster went smoking and I think he had to get a new one with the right odometer or something from the junkyard or the dealership... I feel sorry for him.

 

By the way, do you happen to know that the bulbs on the dashboard are the same as the gauge cluster ones? And do you know if 2000 pathy uses the same bulb as 2003 pathy?

 

Thanks. Not sure if the dash bulbs are the same as the gauge cluster ones. You may want to check out the original thread and do a search for the NICO forums thread. See link below for the NICO Forums thread I used. Also, you may want to try emailing AutoLumination.com, which is the shop I got my bulbs from.

 

http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=369390

 

I think the bulbs should be the same as in my 2000. These are standard parts - in fact, a bunch of other companies use them, too. Your layout may be slightly different but it shouldn't be very difficult to figure out.

[GoPathyGo]

question ofr you guys. how do you keep the needles red when you change the bulb blue

 

This seems to be a hit or miss thing. My needles were a translucent orange, so their default color should be red/orange unless there's some totally radical color back there. I used red LEDs so it was kinda easy. I've seen pics of folks with blue leds and the needles stayed red - it looked pretty cool (see link above).

[GoPathyGo]

I have a question too.....

 

Can You Change The Bulbs In The AC/Heating Controls Area As Well?????

 

I believe folks have tried this and found it difficult... Try the NICO forums for more info. Fueler and tekazgtr seem to have a lot of experience with this.

 

I'm changing it by replacing the radio altogether! Hehehe.... I love music and got really fed up of the stock system after 3 weeks... Sorry, wish I had a better answer...

[edicer2]

This seems to be a hit or miss thing. My needles were a translucent orange, so their default color should be red/orange unless there's some totally radical color back there. I used red LEDs so it was kinda easy. I've seen pics of folks with blue leds and the needles stayed red - it looked pretty cool (see link above).

 

 

yeah i saw they had the blue bulbs but when i tired that my needles turned blue i even painted bottom red and not the original white

[GoPathyGo]

Sorry edicer2. Wish I could be more help. First Nissan so not experienced like the others. Maybe Fueler or the others can provide more help.

[dududuckling]

Hey GoPathyGo,

 

Thanks a lot for your reply. I have to refer back to that NICO forums sometime soon. I've changed my radio to the aftermarket pioneer double din, which is extremely blue, so i was just thinking if I could change the bulbs for the ac/heater since mine was manual control, not the auto one for the heater/ac.

 

Anyway, I came across glow needle kits for the R50 from import intelligence. They have red glowing needles for the speedometers (two long and two short) for the R50. I've never tried it on, but I'm wondering if this might be a possibility to keep your needle red and glowing when you have changed blue background on the speedometer. If the website does not load, press f5 or refresh the page... I don't know why it is doing like that, but it should work.

 

http://www.importintelligence.com/FMPro?-D....html&-Edit

 

Hope that helps,

 

Andrew

 

PS: By the way, gopathygo, how many blue led bulbs did you have to purchase for the speedometer itself?

[GoPathyGo]

Hey GoPathyGo,

 

Thanks a lot for your reply. I have to refer back to that NICO forums sometime soon. I've changed my radio to the aftermarket pioneer double din, which is extremely blue, so i was just thinking if I could change the bulbs for the ac/heater since mine was manual control, not the auto one for the heater/ac.

 

Anyway, I came across glow needle kits for the R50 from import intelligence. They have red glowing needles for the speedometers (two long and two short) for the R50. I've never tried it on, but I'm wondering if this might be a possibility to keep your needle red and glowing when you have changed blue background on the speedometer. If the website does not load, press f5 or refresh the page... I don't know why it is doing like that, but it should work.

 

http://www.importintelligence.com/FMPro?-D....html&-Edit

 

Hope that helps,

 

Andrew

 

PS: By the way, gopathygo, how many blue led bulbs did you have to purchase for the speedometer itself?

 

Cool thanks. I bought the 3-led bulbs from Autolumination. I'm going to try out the 5-LED bulbs and a couple of other vendors as well. (At $2-$4/bulb, they're cheap enough to do some experimenting.) Hopefully I'll find ones that'll be bright enough to light up the whole gauge cluster.

[GoPathyGo]

Ok, so I have more info on the whole dash/light thing. I saw a lot when they swapped my stereo today. Unfortunately, I forgot my digital camera at home. DORK! Oh well.

 

1. The CD+Head unit, auto climate control module and clock are actually pretty easy to remove. Things are just stiff and you need to be careful. Essentially, you pop off the top clock+vent (which is one piece). There will be two screws anchoring the audio stack. Unscrew these. Pop the auto climate control stack carefully and then the audio stack. This is going to be stiff, but just be careful and patient. Disconnect wires at back and voila - the audio stack, clock+vent and climate control are now in your hands.

 

2. The bad news. The clock itself is a sealed unit. I couldn't see any LEDs at the back. I unscrewed it from the vent trim piece and it looks like the only way to open it would require literally disassembling it. So you're stuck with green unless you can find an alternative digital clock

 

3. The Climate Control stack looks like it uses 2 small LEDs with blue bases. These seem to be the same twist-lock type in the instrument cluster, but I didn't remove these since I was there in observer status.

 

4. The 6-CD+Head unit is one integrated piece and it looks like this too is sealed. I didn't see LEDs but checking again. So you may be stuck with green on this one too, unless you swap the head unit.

 

Hope this helps,

Thanks.

[FUELER]

the bulbs for the AUTO climate control is a neo-wedge 4mm

 

yes the 01-04 QX4 clock can be changed too. wanna see?

 

 

 

 

the only thing can;'t be changed is the display on the climate control

[EmptyV]

After reading this again I'm wondering if I can put a dash from an '01 pathy into my '01 QX4, anyone know? Reason why is the '01 QX4 uses a slim florescent tube to illuminate the speedo and tach so I'm stuck with stock white.

 

Here's hot it looks with the Pioneer Nav Unit:

 

[GoPathyGo]

Hmm. Is the clock an Infiniti thing, like the Qx4 having more bulbs than the Pathfinder ? The clock I unscrewed definitely didn't have any LEDs in it. I was really disappointed about that.

[EmptyV]

Hmm. Is the clock an Infiniti thing, like the Qx4 having more bulbs than the Pathfinder ? The clock I unscrewed definitely didn't have any LEDs in it. I was really disappointed about that.

 

I'm pretty sure the clock is exclusive to the QX4's, you've got a digital clock in your Pathy right? Does the QX4 have more bulbs just in the instrument cluster? Here's what the back of mine looks like:

 

 

 

 

 

Billy

[OfftourRoadie96]

After reading this again I'm wondering if I can put a dash from an '01 pathy into my '01 QX4, anyone know? Reason why is the '01 QX4 uses a slim florescent tube to illuminate the speedo and tach so I'm stuck with stock white.

 

Here's hot it looks with the Pioneer Nav Unit:

 

 

A really cheap way of doing this and still get the same effect, although probably not as bright, is to get a piece of lighting gel....its a thin paper like film of color, put it anywhere where light shines through, I've put it in my interior lights and map lights....even behind my turn signals....I will eventually do the same with mine, and change all my interior lights with LED's too, but I'm still working on my Lift Parts!

[EmptyV]

A really cheap way of doing this and still get the same effect, although probably not as bright, is to get a piece of lighting gel....its a thin paper like film of color, put it anywhere where light shines through, I've put it in my interior lights and map lights....even behind my turn signals....I will eventually do the same with mine, and change all my interior lights with LED's too, but I'm still working on my Lift Parts!

 

As you stated you will lose a lot of light with party gels or CTB(color temperature blue). When I first replaced my clock light with dealer supplied parts each bulb was a freaking $28 and it's nothing but a small tungsten filament bulb on a base with a blue color correcting cover. The led replacements I bought were a whopping $1.79/ea and each of the four climate control led's were only $1.25/ea. The last Lee Filter sheet I bought was $6.50.

 

Billy

Edited April 24, 2009 by EmptyV

[Scottzilla]

I was going to suggest using lighting gel to make the VFD on the climate controls match the rest of the blue lighting. It's almost blue anyway so you should be able to do it without making it too dark.

 

Maybe the fluorescent tube (I think it's a cold cathode) could be replaced with one of those cold cathode tubes they sell for modding your PC case. They have lots of different colors and lengths...

[Scottzilla]

anyone know what i did wrong and what i should do??

 

Did you check the fuses already? Hopefully the lights don't work because a fuse blew and not because some trace inside the cluster melted or something.

[tekazgtr1984]

Has anyone done this on a '96-'99 R50? I'm pretty sure the gauge hardware and internal dash hardware differs between the VG and VQ R50's...

[GoPathyGo]

Ok, so today I tried the Autolumination 5 LED, the LEDWholesalers.com 3 LED, Sylvania Incadescents (available at any auto parts store) and SuperBrightLEDs.com 3LED lights.

 

As you can see, the 5LEDs were plenty bright. Lit up the entire gauge cluster.

 

The Incandescents were very very impressive. In fact, I'm going to see if I can find colored Incandescents cheap. See 5LED vs Incandescent below:

 

 

 

The SuperBrightLED.com 3 LED lights were impressive and easily beat the pants off the Autolumination 3LED. But they eventually lost to the Autolumination 5LED. Still, a good fight. (Autolum 5LED on left, illuminating speedo and fuel, while SuperBrightLED.com is on right.)

 

 

LEDWHolesalers.com units were DoA.

 

Overall winner: Autolumination, with the SuperBrightLED.com a close second. Incandescents totally different category but great showing.

 

I also swapped my dome light for an LED. While not as bright as the incandescent, you would be amazed by the heat given off by the incandescent. My dome light assembly is thanking me right now!

 

Cheers,

GPG.

Edited April 26, 2009 by GoPathyGo

[02silverpathy]

/\ /\ /\

Dude, I feel like I owe you for hooking us up with such great test & trial info! Folks like you help make this site incredible!

Thanks!

 

**and everyone else here including Fueler

[GoPathyGo]

/\ /\ /\

Dude, I feel like I owe you for hooking us up with such great test & trial info! Folks like you help make this site incredible!

Thanks!

 

**and everyone else here including Fueler

 

 

Hey, thanks man! Donations or invitations to parties with attractive single young women should be sent to this address...

 

I've learnt a lot from this site - as recently as this weekend, when I got an annoying Check Engine Light. So I post these things as a way of giving back. Right now it's just small fluff stuff. The real project I'm going for is a CV joint replacement. The parts aren't that expensive - and it's a heck of a lot of cheaper and easier than busting it on the trail. Picked up a Haynes manual at Advance yesterday and trying to get up the nerve to do it. Should be fun! Will post pics once that's done.

[01silvapathy]

In the first pic is the white the incandescent bulbs, if so where did you get them, and how much did they cost?

[GoPathyGo]

In the first pic is the white the incandescent bulbs, if so where did you get them, and how much did they cost?

 

Yup, the white is the incandescent bulbs. Got those for something like $3/pair at Advance Auto Parts. Sylvania 74 in a teal-colored package. Pep Boys and Autozone carry them too. They were way brighter than my 6 year old stock bulbs. If you want colored #74 bulbs, Autolumination has 'em for $0.99 each.

[01silvapathy]

Yup, the white is the incandescent bulbs. Got those for something like $3/pair at Advance Auto Parts. Sylvania 74 in a teal-colored package. Pep Boys and Autozone carry them too. They were way brighter than my 6 year old stock bulbs. If you want colored #74 bulbs, Autolumination has 'em for $0.99 each.

 

So im going to go get some tomorrow, and install them cause I can barely see anything (stock bulbs in a 2001 ) And you only needed one package right? And how was it to take the bulbs out of the twist lock bases? Thats the only part im worried about.

[GoPathyGo]

So im going to go get some tomorrow, and install them cause I can barely see anything (stock bulbs in a 2001 ) And you only needed one package right? And how was it to take the bulbs out of the twist lock bases? Thats the only part im worried about.

 

Cool. Yup, I only used one package. That's because the odo bulb in my pathfinder works fine. For reference:

 

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wc...|GRPLAMPAMS____

 

That's what the bulb should look like. It should be in a teal colored pack. 2 bulbs/pack. Big fat 74 in white written on it.

 

Pulling the bulbs from the twist lock bases was a (*&$#(*#&%(R@

 

So I jury-rigged a solution. The bases in my Pathfinder had two colors. 3 Brown Bases held the Fullbeam, Left and Right Turn signal bulbs (up top behind the Fullbeam and Turn Signal lights, right where'd you expect 'em). 3 Black Bases - 2 for general gauge illumination (basically set towards the top of the Speedo and Tach) and 1 down near the Odo. For some bizarre reason, the bulbs were practically cemented to the Black Bases but pulled out really easily from the Brown Bases. They looked the same and I didn't read anything alarming online. So I just swapped 'em. Brown Bases went behind the Speedo and Tach, complete with the spiffy new LEDs, while Black Bases went behind the Fullbeam and Turn Signal lights with the original bulbs still in there. There was enough light left in the Black Bases and the Fullbeam/Turn Signal bulbs are small enough that it didn't really matter that those bulbs were kinda dim.

 

That was my setup. You may have to experiment a bit to see which bulbs pop out of the bases easily and which are practically glued into place. Then just swap 'em around and see what happens.

 

So far, no smoke or problems in my setup...

 

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

Cheers,

GPG.

[dududuckling]

GPG,

 

In total, how many bulbs did you use for the gauge cluster? 4? And for the bulb that you purchased from autoillumination, is there a specific number to it? Or simply 5-led bulb?

 

Thanks

Edited April 27, 2009 by dududuckling